Weeden saves the day for Browns

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden passes against the Buffalo Bills in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Cleveland. Weeden took over for starter Brian Hoyer who was injured in the first quarter. (AP Photo/David Richard)

The first turnover of Thursday night's Browns-Bills game came with 1:44 to play - an opportune time for the Browns.

With the Browns up six and the Bills trying to engineer a potential game-winning two-minute drive, T.J. Ward stepped in front of a Jeff Tuel pass for a pick-six that clinched a 37-24 win that moves them to 3-2 and assures them no worse than a tie for the lead in the AFC North after this week.

The game, the first home primetime game for the Browns since a Thursday night win over the Steelers in 2009, had a less than auspicious beginning. Cleveland put on a clinic - on what not to do. Greg Little took two straight kickoff returns out of the end zone and couldn't make it to the 10-yard line. Josh Gordon let a potential touchdown pass slip through his fingers. And the Bills, already playing with a short field with a punt return to the Browns' 32, were able to score easily after first and goal at the 1, thanks to a Joe Haden pass interference call.

But, as the Browns started to put a drive together, quarterback Brian Hoyer was running for a first down on a busted play. Hoyer, a North Olmsted native and St. Ignatius graduate, was a hometown favorite to begin with after winning his first two starts for Cleveland. So of course, fate had to intervene - and not in his favor.

Hoyer suffered a knee injury at the end of the play, and would not play the rest of the game. Hoyer was undergoing further tests for a possible ligament tear in his knee, and the quarterback who's been undefeated for the Browns this year was replaced by Brandon Weeden, one who was winless.

Weeden, who looked just as unspectacular on the first two drives as we remembered, calmed down on the third drive. The Browns made four third-down conversions as they covered 71 yards and enabled the defense to get a seven-minute break. And on the night Jim Brown, the greatest running back in NFL history, was honored, the Browns scored their first rushing touchdown of the year. They were set up at first and goal at the 1, and needed all four downs for Willis McGahee to do it.

Weeden finished 13-of-24 passing for 197 yards. After the Bills took a 24-17 lead, Weeden took the Browns down the field, with a 47-yard completion to Greg Little, and then a 27-yard touchdown pass to Josh Gordon, who caught the ball in stride and then stutter-stepped to ensure he was in bounds.

At least the Browns had a former first-round pick as a backup quarterback. Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel went down in the third quarter - like Hoyer, with an injury to his right knee - and was replaced by Jeff Tuel, an undrafted quarterback who went 4-22 in his college career at Washington State.

It was a record-setting night for Travis Benjamin, as the former Miami Hurricane broke Eric Metcalf's record of 166 punt return yards in a game, set in a 1993 win over the Steelers. Benjamin had a 57-yard punt return that resulted in the Browns' first points of the night, a Billy Cundiff field goal, and because the Bills kicked to him again, was able to return a punt 79 yards for a go-ahead touchdown. He finished with 179 punt return yards, sixth-most in NFL history.

The Browns got the ball back with seven minutes left to play after Cundiff kicked a go-ahead field goal, and were able to grind down some clock before Cundiff kicked a 44-yard field goal to put the Browns up 30-24 with 2:19 left, setting up the Bills drive that ended with the Ward interception.

And a day after Northern Ohio was laid low after watching the Indians roll over and die in the American League Wild Card Game, the Browns overcame a difficult start - and difficult circumstances - to once again end the game in the victory formation.

Three weeks ago, with the Browns going to their third-string quarterback and replacing running back Trent Richardson with Willis McGahee, the Browns were regarded as a lost cause for the year. But they're playing a different kind of zombie football.

They've risen from the dead.

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Weeden saves the day for Browns

The first turnover of Thursday night's Browns-Bills game came with 1:44 to play ? an opportune time for the Browns.